Balaji.P.B made over 50 trips over three months to a location somewhere in Puliampatti village near Palladam (37 kms off Coimbatore). He was determined that in time he would be able to spot the rare bird that he had missed a few months ago. “I missed the chance when a team of bird watchers spotted the Long-legged Buzzard in Puliampatti in December. I kept going back to the location hoping to see it again,” says Balaji. March 12 turned out to be D day as he spotted the bird roosting on an Acacia tree along a mud road.
The Long-legged Buzzard has never been sighted in Tamil Nadu before! “It was around noon when I was driving past the area when I spotted the bird. I followed the bird as it flitted from tree to tree and took a lot of photographs,” he says.
Stopping by
Two groups of bird watchers in the city sighted this extremely rare bird of prey in Tamil Nadu. The first team included Chetankumar H Joshi, G. Parameswaran, Gajamohanraj, Kishore Kumaran, Sivashankar Ramachandran and Vridhi. Balaji says the first team visited Puliampatti to look for the Eurasian cuckoo, Tree pipit, Indian Spotted eagle & European Roller. They accidentally spotted the raptor sitting on a fencing stone. “They told me that the bird rested for a while. But, soon flew away after it was mobbed by house crows. We don’t know if it was the same bird that showed up again,” he says.
There are no historical records on sighting of this bird in Tamil Nadu. “We checked ebirds, bird forums and lists of Bombay Natural History Society including the comprehensive list put out by the Tamil Birds forum on historical sightings of birds in Tamil Nadu. The Long-legged Buzzard shares features with another winter migrant, Common Buzzard. After I photographed the bird, I posted it on several bird forums and cross checked with bird experts to ensure that it was indeed a Long-legged buzzard.”
Now the bird is an important new addition to the Birds of Tamil Nadu list. India has about 1400 birds, of which roughly about 800 are resident birds and 600 are cross border migrants (they only visit India for part of a year like summer or winter).
Balaji reiterates the importance of recording bird sightings.
“It becomes a reference tool that helps the scientific community to track bird populations and changes over time. There are several online forums and app-based platforms like ‘ebird’ that are available for sharing records among the bird watching community. The data also helps to draw conservation plans for endangered species and their habitats.”
More on Buzzards
The Long-legged Buzzard is a winter migrant . It is sighted in dry open plains in North and central India.
The bird inhabits dry open plains of northern Africa, south-eastern Europe, west and central Asia and Eastern China
Open, uncultivated areas, with high bushes, trees, cliffs or hillocks are its nesting areas.
It feeds mostly on small rodents, and lizards, snakes, small birds, and large insects
This bird is different from the Oriental honey Buzzard and White-eyed Buzzard which are resident birds
